The present invention relates to automated directory assistance service, as provided by telephone companies to their subscribers.
Modern day directory assistance service is provided with the aid of a computer. The caller indicates to a directory assistance operator the name of the party whose telephone number is desired. The operator, in turn, consults an electronic database and, upon finding the desired number, enables the system to deliver a "spoken" audio message which includes the sought-after telephone number. This may be carried out by, for example, electronically assembling stored representations of spoken digits, words and/or phrases and then sending them out over the telephone line. As an alternative, speech synthesis circuitry can be used to create the "spoken" message.
Many such systems include the area code of the delivered telephone number. This is particularly useful in situations where the caller has dialed the standard local directory assistance number, such as "411", but the number that is ultimately delivered by the directory assistance system has an area code which is different from that of the caller's telephone.
In this regard, consider, for example, the situation in which a subset of the telephone numbers in a particular area code has been assigned a brand new area code but, for a transition period, the old area code can still be used by callers. This is currently the situation in Central New Jersey, in which a large number of the telephone numbers in area code "201" have been assigned to area code "908". It is desirable to allow persons in the "908" area to be able, during the transition period, to obtain from directory assistance the numbers of telephones that will continue to be in the "201" area by dialing "411", rather than by having to dial the "long distance" directory assistance number 201-555-1212. However, since the capability of dialing all of the original "201" numbers without using the area code is only for a transitional time period, it is desirable for the directory assistance system to indicate whether the number being sought is a " 908" number or a number which will continue to be a "201" number.